IOC REFUGEE OLYMPiC TEAM 2020 Abdullah SEDIQI Taekwondo PERSONAL DETAILS Date of birth: 25 December 1996 Country of Origin: Afghanistan Residence: Antwerp, Belgium SPORTING DETAILS Sport: Taekwondo Event: -68kg Best Performance (in last 2 years): 2nd place at 2019 Spanish Open (ESP) Coach: Alireza Nassrazadani (Islamic Republic of Iran) Host NOC: Comité Olympique et Interfédéral Belge BACKGROUND Abdullah is a taekwondo athlete and became a refugee in 2017, when he was forced to flee Afghanistan, in search of safety. He began practising taekwondo at the age of 8, and achieved a range of impressive tournament results when living in Afghanistan, securing first place at the Open Middle Asia 2011, Bahrein Open G1 2013, and the ILYO Open 2017. Abdullah now lives in Belgium, where he has continued his winning streak, winning first place at the International Brussels Cup 2017 and Tess Cup 2017. More recently, he won silver at the 2019 Spanish Open. IOC REFUGEE OLYMPiC TEAM 2020 Ahmad ALIKAJ Judo PERSONAL DETAILS Date of birth: 5 June 1991 Country of origin: Syria Residence: Hamburg, Germany SPORTING DETAILS Sport: Judo Discipline: Mixed team Best performance (in last 2 years): N/A Coach: Fadi Darwish Host: IJF – Germany BACKGROUND Ahmad Alikaj was born in Syria, where he grew up before the war broke out. The 29 year-old judoka is now living and training in Germany and competes in the -73kg category. He was included in the IJF Refugee Team at the 2019 Budapest Grand Prix and participated in the 2019 World Championships in Tokyo, as well as the Paris Grand Slam and Düsseldorf Grand Slam in 2020. IOC REFUGEE OLYMPiC TEAM 2020 Ahmad Badreddin WAIS Cycling PERSONAL DETAILS Date of birth: 15 January 1991 Country of Origin: Syria Residence: Switzerland SPORTING DETAILS Sport: Cycling Event: Time Trial Best Performance (In last 2 years): 9th at Asian Championships 2019 Coach: Felix Köhler Host NOC: Swiss Olympic Association BACKGROUND Badreddin was born in Aleppo and lived with his family as the youngest of six siblings. Following the lead of two of his brothers, he began cycling at the age of 14 and, as his talent began to show, he moved to Damascus to live with the national team and study sports science in Homs. From 2008 to 2014, he became a national and regional success. He was the most successful junior rider in Syria, winning the Arabic Championship road race and the Syrian Championships. He was also the first junior to participate in the World Championships for Syria. His biggest influence was his older brother Samer, who was by now the national juniors coach. With the outbreak of war, life became far more difficult and, in 2014, he decided he had no choice but to flee, and arrived in Switzerland after a long journey. He was welcomed by a friend and his family in Lausanne. He continues to train as a cyclist in Switzerland and also hopes to study sports science. IOC REFUGEE OLYMPiC TEAM 2020 Aker AL OBAIDI Wrestling PERSONAL DETAILS Date of birth: 21 September 1999 Country of Origin: Iraq Residence: Austria SPORTING DETAILS Sport: Wrestling Discipline: Greco-Roman -67kg Best Performance (in last 2 years): 3rd at European Junior Championships 2019 (ESP) Coach: Benedikt “Mo” Ernst Host NOC: Österreichisches Olympisches Comité BACKGROUND Aker is an Iraqi refugee who grew up in Mosul with a wrestling trainer for a father who ran his own club. He fled Mosul when ISIS began recruiting young men in the city and escaped to Iraqi Kurdistan, where he had to leave his family behind and travel onwards. At age 17, after being granted subsidiary protection in 2016, he competed alongside the Austrian juniors at an international event in Riga and secured a gold in Juniors at the event. Now he trains seven times a week at the local wrestling club, Ringer Sport Club Inzing, and helps train local children. The head of the club assisted Aker with finding accommodation in the small mountain town. He most recently won bronze at the U20 European Sporting Championships 2019 in Spain. IOC REFUGEE OLYMPiC TEAM 2020 Alaa Maso Swimming PERSONAL DETAILS Date of birth: 1 January 2000 Country of Origin: Syria Residence: Hannover, Germany SPORTING DETAILS Sport: Swimming Event: 50m M freestyle Best Performance (in last 2 years): 23.13 at 2021 German Olympic Trials (GER) Coach: Emil Guliyev (Germany) Host NOC: Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund BACKGROUND Alaa lived in Aleppo with his family, and began swimming at an early age thanks to his father, who became a swimming coach following his retirement from the army. Alaa trained as a swimmer and triathlete and knew fellow refugee swimmer Yusra Mardini when they were both young. Alaa left Syria in 2015 after his training facilities were damaged and he felt the pressure of the conflict all around him. Following a long journey through Europe, he settled in Germany and began swimming training once again with Emil Guliyev. He has also returned to school and is making up on the years lost due to his flight from Syria. IOC REFUGEE OLYMPiC TEAM 2020 Anjelina Nadai LOHALITH Athletics PERSONAL DETAILS Date of birth: 1 January 1995 Country of origin: South Sudan Residence: Ngong Hills, Kenya SPORTING DETAILS Sport: Athletics Discipline: Track – 1500m Best performance (in last 2 years): 4:38.33 at 2021 Nairobi race (KEN) Coach: Joseph Domongole (Kenya) Host: Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation BACKGROUND Anjelina arrived in Kakuma with her aunt in 2002 after escaping South Sudan because of the war. While at high school, she participated in many running competitions. In 2015, one of her teachers told her that she should participate in a 10km run organised by the Tegla Loroupe Foundation. Based on her promising results, she was selected and has been training with the Foundation ever since. She was selected to compete in the Olympic Games Rio 2016. In 2018, Anjelina was selected to join other young people from around the world in the first ever “Sports at the Service of Humanity – Young Leaders Mentoring Programme” ahead of the International Olympic Committee’s Olympism in Action Forum and the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since her participation in the Olympic Games Rio 2016, she has become a mother. IOC REFUGEE OLYMPiC TEAM 2020 Aram Mahmoud Badminton PERSONAL DETAILS Date of birth: 15 July 1997 Country of Origin: Syria Residence: Netherlands SPORTING DETAILS Sport: Badminton Discipline: Men’s Singles Best Performance (in last 2 years): 1st at Latvia International 2019 Coach: Kian Tan (Malaysia) Comi Nederlands Olympisch Comité* Host NOC: Nederlandse Sport Federatie BACKGROUND Aram is a badminton player who was forced to flee war-torn Syria after he could no longer safely go to school or continue his training. He and his sister used to play for the Syrian national team, on which they secured a silver in doubles at the Bahrain International Tournament U19. Now pursuing his sporting goals in the Netherlands, Aram is excelling in his badminton career, most recently reaching the quarter-finals at the 2019 Portuguese International Championships. He considers himself incredibly lucky to have found his current club at the Holbaek Centre of Excellence, which helped him settle into his new life, meet new people and return to his sport. IOC REFUGEE OLYMPiC TEAM 2020 Cyrille FAGAT TCHATCHET II Weightlifting PERSONAL DETAILS Date of birth: 1 August 1995 Country of Origin: Cameroon Residence: Great Britain SPORTING DETAILS Sport: Weightlifting Discipline: -96kg Best Performance (in last 2 years): British record in 94kg, 96kg and 102kg categories Coach: Shyam Chavda (Great Britain) Host NOC: British Olympic Association BACKGROUND Cyrille came to the UK from Cameroon in 2014. Whilst waiting for his asylum claim to be assessed, Cyrille had some difficult times, and says weightlifting saved him from some of his lowest moments. Three years after his asylum claim was approved, he now has multiple British weightlifting records under his belt, including having won the British, English and BUCS weightlifting championships for 2017, 2018 and 2019. He recently graduated with a first-class degree in Mental Health Nursing from Middlesex University and sees caring for others as a way of “giving back”. He now hopes to begin doing a master’s degree alongside his training. IOC REFUGEE OLYMPiC TEAM 2020 Dina POURYOUNES LANGEROUDI Taekwondo PERSONAL DETAILS Date of birth: 1 January 1992 Country of Origin: Islamic Republic of Iran Residence: The Hague, Netherlands SPORTING DETAILS Sport: Taekwondo Event: -49kg Best Performance (in last 2 years): 1st place at 2021 Sofia Open (BUL) Coach: Manni Zarei & Ramin Padidar (Netherlands) Comi Nederlands Olympisch Comité* Host NOC: Nederlandse Sport Federatie BACKGROUND Dina was forced to flee Iran in 2015, but continues to pursue her sporting career as a taekwondo athlete in her new home in The Netherlands. Dina has racked up an impressive amount of 34 world ranking medals since she began competing in 2015. She was the silver medallist at the European Senior Championships in 2018 in Kazan. She was the winner of the Turkish Open 2017 and 2018 and the winner of the Dutch Open 2018 and 2019, two of the toughest ranking tournaments in the world. She won three silver medals in 2020 at world ranking tournaments: Fujaiarah Open, Helsingborg Open and the Dutch Open. She is number 4 in the world ranking as of June 2021. She says sport is essential for her physical and mental health. IOC REFUGEE OLYMPiC TEAM 2020 Dorian KELETELA Athletics PERSONAL DETAILS Date of birth: 6 February 1999 Country of origin: Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) Residence: Lisbon, Portugal SPORTING DETAILS Sport: Athletics Discipline: Track – 100m Best performance (in last 2 years): 10.46 at 2020 Lisbon race (POR) Coach: Francis Obikwelu (Portugal) Host NOC: Comité Olímpico de Portugal BACKGROUND Dorian Keletela became an orphan when he was just a teenager.